Mangano Pushes for New Powers and Union Givebacks

Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano threw down the gauntlet Thursday afternoon.

“There will be labor savings,” he said. “Voluntarily, ordered or there will be layoffs.”

Along with Legislative Presiding Officer Peter Schmitt, R-Massapequa, and County Comptroller George Maragos, Mangano gave a briefing on the Taxpayer Relief Act (TRA), a bill designed to grant the executive branch authority to make revisions in labor contracts with the county’s unions, and which has been in legislative limbo since its.

“The costs related to our work costs have simply become too great for our taxpayers to fund through the real property taxes that are collected,” Mangano, a Republican, told reporters at the , saying that they are “at a breaking point” and calling on unions to “do the right thing” and “agree to renegotiate these contracts during these tough economic times.” If not, Mangano said he is “fully prepared” to order the concessions.

Labor contracts can only be opened by mutual agreement between the unions and the county. Both Mangano and Schmitt voted for the contracts when they sat on the county legislature together. Mangano said that he voted “based on the facts that were presented at the time. They were incorrect facts. Most significantly the economy has changed. Things are different.”

Differences are that the county is currently facing an estimated $343 million budget deficit and the by the  (NIFA). Over the past several months, Mangano has touted  as well as trimming payroll by 600 employees, resulting in $55 million in savings and what administration officials say is a balanced 2011 budget.

However, the county executive insists that the budget won’t be balanced for 2012 and beyond unless labor costs “are reigned in,” thanks to the contracts which are “overly generous” and “failed to consider the residents’ ability to pay.”

The contracts in question were negotiated during the administration of former Democratic County Executive Tom Suozzi and run through 2016. The contracts include a “no layoff” provision, annual salary raises, longevity pay, “educational pay that do not require any education,” and time off for donating blood.

“The contracts entered into and approved by former county executive Tom Suozzi are simply unsustainable,” Schmitt said. “We don’t have the money to pay those contracts. Nobody who works for private industry has some of these benefits and receives some of these benefits.”

As part of the contracts negotiated under Suozzi, union members agreed to have wages deferred  as well as two lagged payroll periods, the second of which will be from April to November this year.

“We’re still in the middle of that,” CSEA Local 830 President Jerry Laricchiuta said, adding that the average union member makes $53,000 a year, while the average union pension is $18,000 a year.

The CSEA is still talking with the Mangano administration, but is more open to modify terms for new hires than already existing members.

“Any compensation package that this union’s been able to negotiate for our members we would like to hold onto,” Laricchiuta said. “For people that are not here yet we’re willing to talk. It would be permanent structural change. It wouldn’t be on the backs of the current employees.”

According to the county’s estimates, raises within the contracts are projected to exceed the consumer price index by over $500 million with a $60 million increase to the 2012 budget alone. NIFA can bring only $10 million in relief by halting the annual step increases to union employees, a fact Mangano railed against, saying the state watchdog would become a “shadow government” of Nassau County.

“Once they administer that if they were to do that the unions have no incentive to negotiate with us at all. None. I say it works counterproductive to Nassau County’s future,” Mangano said.

Following comments from leaders of the Superior Officers Association and Police Benevolent Association in Newsday that there would be no concessions made, Mangano said that he is now asking the legislature to hold hearings on the TRA in order to pass it “which will legally empower me to open up labor contracts and order $60 million in savings to the taxpayers if voluntary negotiations fail.”

According to Schmitt, the legislature would hold hearings through the budget review committee in late January or early February.

“We’re going to have testimony from various people as to exactly what they’re facing next year relative to these unsustainable labor contracts,” he said.

Nassau County Attorney John Ciampoli explained that the act is based on “leading cases” up to and including where  unsuccessfully tried to furlough on the state level last year.

Ciampoli referenced a Buffalo teachers case where the Second Circuit court said “that the government has the ability and is warranted to say ‘OK, stop it. If we keep taxing the people to death, the taxes will have a more deleterious effect than the revenue we would raise from the taxes.’ So we’re within our rights to say ‘no more taxes for the Nassau taxpayers’.”

The case involving CSEA President Danny Donahue where Paterson was unsuccessful in gaining legislative suprematory because he did not have the record to take givebacks from unions was also formulative of the act.

Schmitt isn’t expecting  in the legislature.

“We’ve had no bipartisan support for anything,” he said, while the county executive stated that “we would call on all the legislators to do the right thing on behalf of the public to reign in costs.”

In a statement, Legislative Minority Leader Diane Yatauro, D-Glen Cove, said that Mangano "recently stated that he did not require labor concessions because he had several contingency plans that will provide sufficient savings. Now he claims he needs concessions to maintain a balanced budget into next year. The urgent task before the county executive is 2011. He should completely focus his attention on assuring the state oversight board that he is managing this year’s budget.”

If passed, the act would grant the authority to modify terms of the contracts. Mangano said he would “order the savings necessary to keep the contract affordable for the county,” and mentioned targeting benefits.

“We don’t believe that this law is the right way to go and we think it complicates things and we doubt its legality,” Laricchiuta said. “If they implement it against the CSEA we would absolutely have to challenge it in court.”

When asked about the possibility of a suit, Ciampoli said that “you have to be prepared for that in a situation like this. We don’t go into this with our eyes shut.” Schmitt agreed, saying that “any action of the legislature can be challenged; anybody can challenge anything,” but added “every brief I’ve read and every opinion that I’ve read is it’s something new that has not be tried before but it does have a foundation in law.”

The county appeared firm in its stance that it will push the bill in the legislature while it continues talk with the union leadership.

“We’re willing to continue talking to the county executive as we have been trying to make the future look better,” Laricchiuta said. “We want to see this county executive have the opportunity to use his budget and his plans and his strategies to make it work. We think he deserves a fair chance. At what cost, I don’t know.”